Once you have an attractive, up-to-date website that strongly presents your marketing offer then your next step is to work at attracting or directing qualified visitors to your site; and to do this, you have these 6 web-based technologies that are commonly used in Internet Marketing.

This introductory article will help you get a basic understanding of each one of these 6 Internet Marketing technologies.

Of course, each of these Web-Based technologies has its own array of specialized know-how; but after reading the brief descriptions herein you’ll be able to better discuss your internet marketing needs with any web-marketing professional.

1- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO — or more specifically search engine optimization — encompasses a number of very specific actions that are done to optimize (make the best possible) a website so that the Search Engines will want to include that website as close possible to the top of the first page of their search results pages.

In Internet Marketing, a great SEO equates to the search engines ranking your website on their first page in response to queries by people looking for the kind of product or service you offer.

There are three main SEO areas that need to be focused on :

1- the structural construction of the site according to precise best practices;2- the popularity of the site, measured by the incoming traffic and inbound links;3- the relevance and quality of the information presented, measured by the time spent on the site by the visitors and their interactions.

Note that all these criteria are based on a continuous analysis – the artificial intelligence at work – of billions of interactions of Internet users vis-à-vis the millions of Internet pages; the Search Engine’s goal is to determine what Internet users like and do not like when interacting with websites.

The determining basic factor: the keywords

When you commit to a SEO program, the first thing to do is to list keywords related to what you offer. These keywords are the catalysts of the search engines. If you sell “red sneakers” but these words appear poorly in your site, then you are starting off on the wrong foot 🙂

Results are a long-term affair

One must know and understand that it can take a few months before seeing the first positive results of a search engine optimization program; the results depend on the type of website, how intense you decide to tackle this program and the competitiveness of your competitors for the same keywords.

Note: It goes without saying that the cornerstone of any internet marketing strategy is its website. A poorly built website will not be “liked” by either the visitors or the search engines robots and as a result your marketing return on investment will suffer despite the other Internet Marketing Technologies that you use.

2- Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Advertising (PPC-SEA)

In essence, for a keyword that relates to your website, Search Engines such as Google and Bing will accept, for a fee, to make your website show up on the first page of their search results page.

They do this through a keyword auction-based system that works, in essence, as follows:

Let’s say you offer red sneakers on your website. Now, working through the Search Engine’s Ad platform you prepare a short advertisement offering red sneakers; then, you associate this ad to the keyword «red sneakers» for which you offer to pay, for example, $1 each time someone, who has searched for “red sneakers”, clicks on your ad.

Of course all other advertisers offering red sneakers will also want to pay for the same keyword; some will want to pay $2, others $1 and still others $3 or more. And this is where the Search Engine will start to “rank” its advertisers according to the amounts of each.

This is what is called auction-based because there are many businesses and organizations of a similar nature that are all bidding on the same keyword, and the results usually, but not always, go to the highest bidders, notwithstanding certain tactical exceptions.

Note : It is not just the amount per click that determines the ranking; Google takes into account many other display settings such as geography, weekdays, budget limit, etc., and including the quality of SEO.

If you know how to do it, this is a very efficient and very profitable way of generating qualified traffic to your website; otherwise, it can be costly.

The 2 worthwhile features that favour PPC-SEA

A first feature in favour of PPC-SEA is that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad; the second feature worth noting is that this type of marketing action can be put into effect in a few hours if not a few days, unlike SEO that takes a few months to garner results.

3- Social Media Marketing

For some types of companies and organizations, social media websites can play a powerful role in their marketing.

What is it exactly?

Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, Instagram, etc. are, essentially, big websites that allow individuals to join (become a member) and then let each one build his or her own mini-site on their platform, thus allowing their members to socialize and interact with other members.

To do this, members of these websites can :

– build their own network of links (connections)– share (post) content (information, videos, photos, banalities, etc.) with the members of the network– like, comment and/or share what their connections have posted.

The marketing aspect comes into play when a commercial entity can also have its own social media website on these networks.

For example, Enza Carelli has, on the one hand, her personal Facebook mini-site to interact with her connections, and she also has a Facebook commercial mini-site for Carelli Bakery where she puts forth her company, her services and her products with the aim of generating leads and, ultimately, sales.

The impact of social networks

It is a fact that people, before making an important decision, look for and appreciate hearing about the opinions and experiences of others.

In fact, a favorable mention for a product or service by a parent, a friend or, in the case of LinkedIN, by a professional connection, generates at least an appreciation of the brand and at most opens the door to a possible business opportunity. And that’s multiplied by X when a product, service or activity is mentioned by an influencer, that person who is followed by hundreds if not thousands, not to mention millions of people.

Obviously the opposite is equally true: a bad review will definitely negatively affect, if not kill a brand.

The guiding principle of successful marketing on social networks

Social networks are primarily a crossroads of connections between individuals, often family members, friends, acquaintances and colleagues; with that in mind, organizations to be successful in their marketing using social networks need to share information that somehow may benefit the social group’s individuals: how-to’s, promotions, proofs of effectiveness, social causes, etc.

In other words, in terms of marketing, the sharing of information on a social media network by a commercially-minded activity must to some degree be “social” in nature, for the overall marketing effort to be effective.

4- Email Marketing: Your Digital Mailing Service

Based on recent statistics, Email Marketing is still a very good way of distributing information if used in compliance with anti-spam laws. The latter limits to whom and in what context we have the right to send promotional emails, while stipulating that we must remove from our lists the email of any person who requests it.

The 2 benefits of email marketing

Whether you send out e-newsletters, promotional or corporate announcements, the first benefit of email marketing is that it is a way to stay present in the minds of your customers and contacts, even if they do not open all your emails.

The other benefit is that it allows you to test offers or messages before investing more time or money on them.

The 2 challenges of email marketing

The first challenge is to build a growing database of people who are interested in the information you want to share with them.

The other challenge is to have an information dissemination strategy so useful and relevant that it builds and strengthens your brand image, and thus opens the door to business opportunities.

5- Internet Advertising

Taking into account private, social and portal websites, the Internet has become the advertising medium of the hour, with its millions of webpages.

Indeed, an advertiser can pay to have his advertisements displayed on the pages of social media websites and thousands of other websites relevant to what he wants to advertise.

Thus, thanks to internet technology, an advertiser can ensure that his e-advertisement is seen by the target audience he seeks to reach, and this, with an excellent degree of accuracy.

Social media advertising model

• FACEBOOK (and INSTAGRAM)

Facebook is the leader in this game. Its platform makes it possible to identify a target public based on demographic parameters such as age, gender, geolocation, profession, etc., in addition to taking into account their content interaction patterns (click, like, share, comment).

In other words, if a user has clicked on an ad offering information on how to clean a whirlpool then FB will present to that user advertisements off businesses that offer products and services related to the ad the user clicked on.

Also, with FB you can opt to advertise on Instagram with the same targeting settings.

• LINKED IN

Linkedin follows a similar model of using its membership’s data; and even if it is not as exhaustive as FB’s data, LinkedIN can have its merits for B2B.

• YOU TUBE

A similar advertising model is followed by YouTube (owned by Google) which displays the video-ads based on demographics in addition to the people’s interaction on the YouTube platform. In other words, if a user has clicked on a video offering tips for repairing a whirlpool bath, YouTube will show them video-ads featuring products and services related to the clicked video.

The contextual website targeting

In this case the word contextual refers to websites that offer related products or services and target your customer-type. In other words, if you sell climbing equipment and clothing, then you will want to have your ad posted on sites and blogs that deal with climbing and even on websites about extreme sports activities

To do this, you can work directly through Google’s Adsense service, which consists of a vast network of thousands of websites where Google offers to display your ads on the sites relevant to your offer; it is essentially a question of setting the type of sites according to the subjects which interest us. Bing offers its version called Contextual Ads

You can also deal with a website advertising broker, or hire and ad agency to set it all up.

6- Re-marketing : the response is in the repetition

This is truly unique to internet technology

The «Re» in Re-marketing refers to the fact that when you, as an interested prospect, have interacted with a webpage or an e-mail without having responded to call to action as a pre-defined by the advertiser, then that advertiser can continue to post again (re-) these same, or similar advertisements on various websites as you surf the internet.

Re-marketing is available on all platforms from Google to Facebook to LinkedIN and others. The duration and frequency of displaying the ads of a re-marketing campaign vary depending on a number of possible settings.

The value of Re-marketing is obvious if one knows the importance of insistent repetition in advertising is needed to generate enough response to make the ad campaign successful.

The success of your internet marketing depends on your use of these 6 technologies

The development of a successful Internet Marketing strategy requires a thoughtful evaluation and a tactical implementation of either one or a mix of these 6 internet marketing technologies.

In a more systematic way you must:

1- choose the right Internet Marketing technology (-ies) for your type of business and industry;2- know exactly how these technologies can be used so that they give you the best possible return;3- make sure to use these technologies following a strategic plan.

By doing 1,2 and 3 you will come up with an Internet Marketing program tailored to your needs.

And if you’d like my help to successfully apply these Internet Marketing technologies to your business…

If you see the value of getting a good grasp on these six internet marketing technologies and would like to know how to use them intelligently for the development of your business, then call me to find out more about our unique One-on-One Training and Consulting service.

It is a 3 PHASE service at the end of which we will have developed, together, a program of marketing actions for your business and based on your budget.

Call 514-529-5669 to ask for more information on the content of this service, the format of its presentation and the cost.